Texas Instruments Slips: Q4 Rev Beats, EPS In-Line; Q1 EPS View Light

By Tiernan Ray

Shares of chip maker Texas Instruments (TXN) this afternoon are down 71 cents, or 1.6%, at $43.14, after the company reportedQ4 revenue slightly above what analysts were expecting, but EPS in line.

Revenue in the three months ending in December rose to $3.03 billion, the company said, yielding EPS of 46 cents.

Analysts had been modeling $2.99 billion and 46 cents.

CEO Rich Templeton remarked that the quarter’s results “capped a year in which each quarter’s performance increasingly reflected the impact of structural changes we’ve made to focus TI on Analog and Embedded Processing, where the diversity and longevity of our positions are assets.”

The company’s analog and embedded chip business saw sales rise 12% from the prior-year quarter, TI said, with analog up 12% and embedded up 11%.

Gross margin came in at 54.2%, which the comapny said was “near its record high.”

For the current quarter, TI sees revenue in a range of $2.83 billion to $3.07 billion, and EPS of 36 cents to 44 cents. That is in line with consensus of $2.95 billion in revenue, but below the average estimate for 44 cents EPS.

About Tech Trader Daily

Tech Trader Daily is a blog on technology investing written by Barron’s veteran Tiernan Ray. The blog provides news, analysis and original reporting on events important to investors in software, hardware, the Internet, telecommunications and related fields. Comments and tips can be sent to: techtraderdaily@barrons.com.